Page 83 of Emerald

It’s not like I found much of that the few times I tried. It's hard to feel good when you just want to hit someone.

From the colors lighting up on zha’s skin, the confusion is shared. “It feels good, I am told. But for just that? It would be insanity. You would lose your whole hoard!”

“You would? But… it isn’t worth the risk?” I hold up a hand. “Nevermind, we are getting off track.”

I push aside the comment about treasure. And I thought I had a one-track number-reciting mind…

That gives me pause. I haven’t been using numbers all that much lately, have I? Huh. I wonder what…

I shake my head, not letting myself side-tracked.

“What risk?” I ask. “A zhannel?”

“No, that is why you take the risk,” zha explains. “A mating leaves you prone to being tricked and losing part of your hoard.”

“I don’t want your hoard, Kroaicho,” I groan. “How many different ways do I have to say it?”

“I believe you,” zha responds. “It is strange, of course, but also very… appealing somehow.”

“It’s simple psychology,” I explain. “Nothing mysterious.”

“How so?” zha asks.

I snort. “You have discovered what it feels like to not be on guard and you like it. It’s what I feel with you, too, actually. I have a hard time recognizing emotion when I look at people. I can hear it in voices and it’s not like I completely lack emotion or anything...” I stop myself there, realizing I’m getting defensive and zha wouldn’t even know why. “What I’m trying to say is you light up with your emotions and I can tell the difference. It’s… soothing.”

“I am glad our communication can be clear,” zha replies, orange lighting up with the green and blue. “It is odd that it would be any other way. But many things are odd. Are you saying that humans mate just for pleasure?”

“Yes, for pleasure and with no hoard lost. Well… I guess for people paying… never mind.” I shake my head, recentering my thoughts and resisting my usual urge to over-explain how things work. It would take us years to get past the misunderstanding about paying for sex. “I don’t see how it can possibly work without touching. Do you just toss something at the other? Is your uh, thing, detachable?”

“Detachable thing? Is what detachable?” zha asks, blue taking over the green now.

I huff out a breath and fall back on anatomy. “A penis.”

My eyebrows shoot up when I realize there isn’t a translation, so I try some synonyms. And more. Every millimeter of zha is lit up in blue and I know I’m adding confusion when my face starts burning.

Nothing translated.

I try again. “Well it is an appendage that the male person pushes inside of inside the female person.”

“What’s a male?” Kroaicho asks, voice exasperated. “Put what in where? No, do not tell me. That is too terrible to contemplate and I do not want to know. What a violent species you come from...”

I clear my throat. “I can’t argue with that, I guess. But how are we going to…you know? Deal with all the green we are signaling?”

Zha takes a deep breath and grinds zha’s tusks together. “The way of my species. The only correct way.”

I let out a snort. “You are gonna have to be a lot more specific than that or no way.”

“All you have to do is breathe it in.”

“Breath what in?” I say, voice rising in exasperation.

“We should not do this,” zha says, skin lighting pink. “It is only for a zhannel.”

“There is no way we are going to have a zhannel,” I say, grinding my teeth now like zha grinds tusks.

“Of course we are not. They are only for ourselves.”

My brow furrows, trying to make sense of that, repeating it back and then realizing the emphasis was put onwe.

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